The one objection to the equality
of the sexes that he considers deserves serious attention is that made by
Sir James Stephen in his clever attack on John Stuart Mill. Sir James
Stephen points out in Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, that women may
suffer more than they have done, if plunged into a nominally equal but
really unequal contest in the already overcrowded labour market. Mr.
Ritchie answers that, while the conclusion usually drawn from this
argument is a sentimental reaction in favour of the old family ideal, as,
for instance, in Mr. Besant's books, there is another alternative, and
that is the resettling of the labour question. 'The elevation of the
status of women and the regulation of the conditions of labour are
ultimately,' he says, 'inseparable questions. On the basis of
individualism, I cannot see how it is possible to answer the objections
of Sir James Stephen.' Mr. Herbert Spencer, in his Sociology, expresses
his fear that women, if admitted now to political life, might do mischief
by introducing the ethics of the family into the State. 'Under the
ethics of the family the greatest benefits must be given where the merits
are smallest; under the ethics of the State the benefits must be
proportioned to the merits.' In answer to this, Mr. Ritchie asks whether
in any society we have ever seen people so get benefits in proportion to
their merits, and protests against Mr. Spencer's separation of the ethics
of the family from those of the State. If something is right in a
family, it is difficult to see why it is therefore, without any further
reason, wrong in the State. If the participation of women in politics
means that as a good family educates all its members, so must a good
State, what better issue could there be? The family ideal of the State
may be difficult of attainment, but as an ideal it is better than the
policeman theory. It would mean the moralisation of politics. The
cultivation of separate sorts of virtues and separate ideals of duty in
men and women has led to the whole social fabric being weaker and
unhealthier than it need be. As for the objection that in countries
where it is considered necessary to have compulsory military service for
all men, it would be unjust and inexpedient that women should have a
voice in political matters, Mr. Ritchie meets it, or tries to meet it, by
proposing that all women physically fitted for such purpose should be
compelled to undergo training as nurses, and should be liable to be
called upon to serve as nurses in time of war. This training, he
remarks, 'would be more useful to them and to the community in time of
peace than his military training is to the peasant or artisan.' Mr.
Ritchie's little book is extremely suggestive, and full of valuable ideas
for the philosophic student of sociology.

* * * * *

Mr. Alan Cole's lecture on Irish lace, delivered recently before the
Society of Arts, contains some extremely useful suggestions as to the
best method of securing an immediate connection between the art schools
of a country and the country's ordinary manufactures. In 1883, Mr.